YouTube is testing server-side ad injection to counteract ad blockers
YouTube has been actively working to curb ad blocker usage, a campaign that led to the shutdown of YouTube Vanced in 2022. The platform has been pushing free-tier users towards its Premium subscription as part of these efforts.
Despite this, users have continued to find ways to block ads through extensions like uBlock Origin and SponsorBlock. In response, Google is now testing a new strategy: server-side ad injection. This method integrates ads directly into the video stream, making it more challenging for ad-blocking tools to bypass them.
SponsorBlock's developer recently revealed on X that YouTube is experimenting with this new approach. The developer noted that this method disrupts SponsorBlock because the ads are now part of the video, offsetting all timestamps. Currently, this server-side ad injection is still in the testing phase, with some users reporting encounters, but it has not yet been widely implemented.
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Related news
External links
- YouTube is currently experimenting with server-side ad injectionX (formerly Twitter)
- YouTube's next move might make it virtually impossible to block adsAndroid Police
- YouTube testing server-side ad injection to counter ad blockers9to5Google
- Seeing Ads on YouTube? Google is testing server-side ads that break adblockersgHacks
Comments
This will cost them twice as much in hosting the videos, since they will have to host the video with ads for normal users and the same video also without ads for those who have a premium account. It would then be doubling the expenses, or they use markers for the ads, which are then also detected by adblockers or userscripts. I think that with this they are going to shoot themselves in their own foot.
I think this was an expected outcome as soon as google said its combating adblockers. Its a big step up from what they have been doing to combat them, but i believe one of two things will happen from this, either someone finds a way around in some shape or form or if not.. People will start to move to other services. In the times we live in people cannot afford the price of youtubes subscription, with the only alternitive being 20 ads in one video. This is just plain Enshittification (excuse my french) on every level.
Remember how people were joking about how ad-block users were gonna stop watching youtube months ago? The only possible results for this are either: it doesn't work & just improves ad blockers (same as before), less people watch youtube over the ads, or more people finally switch to third party clients before they start targeting those too. I don't know what they expect to happen with this.
I will never give such an evil company as YouTube money. If they do make adblocking impossible, I'll just stop using YouTube. Nothing on there is more valuable than books. It is a completely optional service.
It will never be impossible, People will find ways! There always have been
I bet there will be AI-powered ad blockers to counter this, haha. It would be even funnier if those blockers would use Google's AI to block Google's ads, doubling the server load for every frickin' ad.